“Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,…and…you were bought at a price” (1 Cor 6:19-20).
As we come to the end of 2 Samuel, it’s time to connect some dots. When David looked out his palace window to the north and saw the destroying angel, where was he standing? On the south end of Mount Moriah, “one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Gen 22:2), as the Lord said to Abraham, the father of all believers. So 1,000 years before, God indicated that the ransom would ultimately involve the sacred currency of the blood of His Son, whom the Father loved. But midway between Abraham and David, Moses was instructed to collect a half shekel (about a quarter of an ounce) of silver for each fighting man from 20 years and up, “for the redemption of their souls is costly” (Ps 49:8). The total came to more than 5 tons! It was used for the foundations of the tabernacle, 100 bases in all, and the remainder for the capitals of the outer court. It pointed forward to the One who would lay His honor in the dust as our Foundation, but also be the Headstone of glory (Zech 4:7-9). Now David had failed to collect the ransom silver. What must be done? “Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite” (2 Sam 24:18), said the prophet Gad. Although Araunah was willing to give all for David’s God, the price must be paid once again: “fifty shekels of silver” (v 24) for the temple site, and later, “six hundred shekels of gold” (1 Chron 21:25) for the whole mountain. The temple must have its foundation laid in ransom silver. The last we hear of this ransom price occurred when Jesus provided the full shekel, as He said to Peter, “for Me and you” (Mt 17:27). He “gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:6). Yes, the price is paid in full, and our foundation is sure, praise His holy name!